HOLY LIVING _HOLy LIVING Saints and Saintliness in]udaism

LOUIS }ACOBS

JASON ARONSON INC. Northvale, New Jersey London Copyright c 1990 by Louis Jacobs

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

.All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from Jason Aronson Inc. except ill the case of brief quotations in reviews for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jacobs, Louis. Holy living : saints and saintliness in Judaism I Louis Jacobs. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87668-822-9 1. Jewish way of life-History of doctrines. 2. Perfection­ Religious aspects-Judaism-History of doctrines. 3. Jewish saints-History of doctrines. 4. Judaism-Doctrines. I. Title. BM723.]28 1989 296.6'1-dc20 89-39274 CIP

Manufactured in the United States of America. Jason Aronson Inc. offers books and cassettes. For information and catalog write to Jason Aronson lnc;, 230 Uvingston Street, Northvale, New Jersey 07647. For David andMaya ·. CONTENTS

Preface xi 1 JEWISH SAINTLINESS THROUGH THE AGES 1 Hesed 2 Hasid 3 Who Were the Hasidim? 4 The Essenes 5 The Hasid in the Mishnah 7 Hasid or Tzaddik? 9 The D~velopment of Hasidism 10 The Baal Shem Tov 19 The Hungarian School 20 The Sephardi World 22 2 SAINTLINESS AND LEARNING 23 The Ignorant May Be Hasidim 24 Rational versus Saintly 26 Traditional Learning and Attachment to God 28 Other Hasidic VieW'S 30

vii viii CONTENTS

3 THE MAKING OF A SAINT 33 Striving for Sainthood 33 The Saintly Path 34 Other Guides for Saintly Living 38 Homilies of the Hasidic Masters 40 The Fall of the Saint 45 4 SAINTLY EXTRAVAGANCE 49 Hafetz Hayyim 51 Yoizel Horowitz 52 Elimelech of Lizensle 53 Hawim Halberstam of Zans 54 Solomon of Zehil 54 Arele Roth 55 Solomon Shapira of Munleacs 55 The Safed Kabbalists 56 5 THE SAINTLY IDEAL OF EQUANIMITY 59 Neither Praise nor Denigrate 60 Disdain for Praise 63 6 SAINTLY RAPTURES 65 Phinehas of Koretz 66 Dov Baer of Lubavitch 67 Meir of Apta 68 Hayyim Halberstam of Zans 69 CONTENTS ix

Mordecai Sharabi 70 Zechariah Mendel of Yaroslav 70 The Concept of Devekut 71 The Power of Holiness 72 The Rapture of Death 73 The Erotic Element 75 7 SAINTLY CONDUCT 77 Saintly Rules from the Geonim 78 Safed Rules 80 Rules from the Beshtian Hasidim 83 Rules from the Maggid of Mesirech 87 Rules from the Lithuanian-Mitnaggedic School 88 Rules from the Musar Movement 90 Rules of the College in Kelme 92 8 SAINTLY POWERS 95

Belief in Miracles 96 Baneful Powers 97 The Saint as Miracle Worker 99 The Ancients versus the Contemporaries 102 The Oriental Saints 108 Exorcism 109 9 HOW THE SAINTS DIED 111

]udah the Prince 112 Simeon bar Yohai 112 X CONTENTS

The Ari 113 The Baal Shem Tov 113 Gershon Henoch Leiner of Radzhyn 114 Nahman of Bratzlav 114 Shneur Zalman of Liady 115 The Gaon of Vilna 115 The Hazon Ish 116 Yehiel M. Tykochinsky 116 The Hatam Sofer 117 The Saints as Martyrs 118 The Hilula: Cause for Celebration 118 The Saint as judge on High 119 10 VENERATION OF THE SAINTS 121 Cleaving to the Sages 122 Telling the Tales 123 Worship and Necromancy 124 ]udaism Does Know of Saints 126

Notes 127

Glossary 143 References 147 Index 157 PREFACE

Throughout the history of Judaism there can be discerned that specific quality of extraordinary piety known as Hasidut, roughly corre­ sponding to the term saintliness. The person whose life is permeated with this quality is known as a hasid. This book is a phenomenological study of Hasidut and the hasid, that is7 it seeks to delineate the special characteristics of saindiness in Judaism, showing how these differ from other types of Jewish religious belief and conduct. It is somewhat odd that, while the subject has received attention in general works on Judaism, there has not been, to my knowledge, any detailed examina­ tion of the phenomenon of saindiness as a separate subject of study. While this book provides a popular account for which prior knowledge on the part of the-reader is not necessary, it is hoped that scholars of Judaism, and of religion in general, will find some stimulus for further research into this fascinating. topic. Chapter 1 examines the concept of saindiness as it appears in the Bible and talmudic literature and through medieval Jewish thought and life down to the present day. The common features are described, as are the different manifestations in Jewish history. Learning and piety are not only at variance in religious life but are

xi xii PREFACE

frequently in conflict. The tensions between learning and saindiness, · between the ideal of the hakham (sage) and the hasi"' are noted in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 deals with such questions as: How does a person proceed in order to become a hasid? What does training for the saintly life consist of? Which are the techniques to be used? Is it desirable to have saintly ambitions? The saint is ruthless in the demands he makes on himself. As a spiritual extremist, he abhors spiritual apathy, compromise, or indul­ gence. The history of religion demonstrates clearly the imbalance of the saintly life. A certain lack of proportion is the price the saint is willing to pay in his quest for the Divine. This aspect of saintly extravagance is treated in Chapter 4. The saintly attitude of equanimity in Jewish sources, going back to the time of the Stoics, is examined in Chapter 5. Typical of the saintly ideal is the attitude of complete indifference to both the praise and the opprobrium of human beings. To be concerned with what other people think of him is, for the saint, a severe hindrance to his burning need to be alone with his God. The joy and rapture experienced by the saint is the intense, though unsought, reward for his spiritual strivings. A description of saintly rapture is presented in Chapter 6. Patterns of saintly behavior are studied in Chapter 7. Throughout the ages and in every religion, the saint has been expected to follow a severe regimen of pious conduct, possible only for those in the closest communion with the transcendent. Although actual evidence, as opposed to pious legend, is scanty, the belie£ persists that the saint possesses supernatural powers. In the canonization process of the Catholic Church, miracles have to be adduced in evidence before a man or woman can be declared a saint. While there are no such official processes in Judaism, this does not mean there is a denial that the holy man is capable of overriding nature. Chapter 8 describes the many claims in the hagiographicalliterature of Judaism in which saints possessed supernatural powers. The elevated stage that the saint attains at the time of his death is the subject of Chapter 9. The descriptions of this awesome moment PREFACE xiii owe much to standard beliefs as to what happens when the saint's soul departs this life. Finally, Chapter 10 discusses the veneration of saints, a highly sensitive topic in Judaism, where worship is due to God alone. A constant battle has been fought against superstitions that border on idolatry.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It would not have been possible to embark on this enterprise without the help provided by the massive research of a host of scholars, Jewish and non-Jewish, whose works are referred to in the text and footnotes. My indebtedness to them is great. My thanks are due to the editors at Jason Aronson Inc. for their high standards of production, and espe­ cially to Arthur Kurzweil for his unfailing help and encouragement. As always, I am grateful to my wife Shula for putting up with my very unsaintly moods when I am writing a book ... and not only then. 1

JEWISH SAINTLINESS THROUGH THE AGES

Every religion has, in addition to its or~ adherents, men and women whose lives are dedicated to heroic virtue and who display extraordinary, self-denying religious commitment-for example, the Christian saint, the Muslim wali, the Hindu guru, the Buddhist bodhi­ sattva. With a borrowing of terms from one religion to another, these religious types are referred to in English by various names: saints, gurus, holy men, hermits, anchorites, miracle workers, and so forth. They are sometimes found in groups or fraternities, bound together by a common aim, but sometimes distinguished as individual pietists, operating on their own both within and apart from the general social order. This book examines the phenomenon of saintline$S as it appears in the history of Judaism.1 The usual term for the phenomenon of saintliness in,Judaism is Hasidut, an abstract noun used to describe the kind of life embraced by the has~ a term that must.be examined because of the way it is used in the Bible and the rabbinic literature.2 I am .indebted to Gulkovitsch's monographs, but his treatment of this term in the Bible deals mainly with the concept as it appears in the Psalms, 3 and his study of the rabbinic material examines only those stories concerning "a f:ertain

1 2 HOLYLNING hasid."4 So it remains to trace in greater detail the evolution of the term from the Bible through rabbinic and talmudic literature.

HESED

The term hes~ found in numerous passages in the Bible, denotes mercy, loving kindness, loyalty, fidelity, grace, or charm, according to the context in which it occurs. However, in two passages-"And if a man shall take his sister ... it is hesed,'' (Leviticus 20:7) and "Righteous­ ness exalteth a nation but sin is hesed to any people'' (Proverbs 14:34)­ the word appears to mean "shame" or "reproach." (It is possible, however, that the conventional meaning is intended in Proverbs, so that the latter verse should be translated, "but hesed is sinful to a people," that is, excessive generosity is out of place in national affairs.5) The word occasionally has this meaning of "reproach" in Aramaic, and scholars have remarked on the idea of "eager zeal" and "intensity'' as basic to the root of the word. 6 It is almost as if the ancient writers had · in mind the very quality of superabundance, which finds its normal expression in the good but which at times produces the opposite by bursting its bonds. The practice of hesed is a frequently occurring theme in the biblical books. The prophet Micah (6:8) speaks of God relinquishing His anger because He delights in hesed. In the books of Joel (2: 13) and Jonah (4:2), God is described as"abundant in hesed." The same description is applied to God in the book of Exodus (34:6). Jeremiah speaks of God's hesed to His people (31:2) as well as Israel's hesed to God (2:2). Hesed is the keynote of the book of Hosea. The central theme is that God loves Israel, whom He has betrothed as His bride in hesed (2:21); therefore, He desires hesed more than sacrifices (6:6). Because of His love for Israel, God desires to be worshipped by those who practice hesed-that is, by those who reciprocate God's love and whose regard for others is such that every kind of social injustice and iniquity is abhorrent to them (Hosea 10:12-13; 12:7-8). Hesed in Hosea refers to God's condescen­ sion to human needs, to Israel's affection for God, and to people in their relationship to one another? Hesed is a kind of spontaneous generation of good will in the human character which makes us delight in giving JEWISH SAINTliNESS THROUGH THE AGES 3 freely and joyously to others. It has often been noted, on the other hand, that the translation of hesed as "mercy" is inadequate. The word possesses no overtones of condescension, nothing patronizing or sug­ gestive of affability to inferiors-not, at least, when the concern is with the behavior or attitudes of one person toward another. This efferves­ cence of goodness in the character sometimes results in what we call charm. In the book of Esther, the heroine is nowhere described as a beauty. It was her charm-her hesed-that captivated her royal lover (Esther 2:17). R. Joshua b. Korha comments in the Talmud (Megillah 13a), somewhat ungallandy, that Esther was sallow, but that a thread of hesed was drawn about her. Schechter's interpretation of hasidim as people with "beautiful souls," is analogous to the verse in Esther, homiletical, and very far fetched. 8

HAS ID

We turn now to the word hasid, derived from hesed. It must be noted that, unlike the English word saint, from the Latin sanctus, the term hasid in its original biblical usage has no overtones of consecration or dedication to a special life of extreme holiness and piety. The biblical hasid is certainly no charismatic personality, but simply one who practices hesed, one whose heart and mind are suffused with a rich intensity of goodness resulting in complete devotion to God and unqualified love of others. God Himself is described in the Book of Psalms (114:17) as hasid. To speak of the Creator as "good" is under­ standable; to speak of him as "saindy" is merely grotesque.9 There are references in the Bible to the "man of hesed" (Proverbs 11:17; Isaiah 57:1), and the term ish heSed may be a synonym for hasid. But it is probable that hasid is the more intensive of the terms, as in the distinction between "So-and-so swims" and "So-and-so is a swimmer." The feminine form of hasid is not found in the Bible. The form hasidah is used to describe a certain bird in Leviticus (11:19), Deuter­ onomy (14:16), Jeremiah (8:7), Zechariah (5:9), Psalms (104:17), and Job (39:13). In all of these passages (with the exception of the verse in Job, where the rendering is "ostrich"), the Authorized Version (A V) translates the word as "stork." The word may have no connection 4 HOLYLNING with hasid and may not even be a Hebrew word. In the Talmud (Hullin 63a), R. Huna explains the word to mean "shows kindness (Hasidut) to its companions," but this no more than a folk etymology.10 In the Book of Psalms there are references to the hasidim, plural of hasid (37:28; 79:2; 89:5; 97:10). Who were these men? Is the term hasidim nothing more than a generic term for the righteous and godly, or does it designate a special group of men dedicated to a special purpose? It is impossible to answer this conclusively. When the psalmist, for instance, refers to God speaking peace to His people and to His saints (hasidim, Psalm 85:9), are the words "to His saints" in apposition to "to His people," or is it a reference to a special group of "saints" among the people'? Many scholars are inclined to the view that in some of the psalms, the hasidim are none other than the men with this name who fought on the side of the Maccabees against Antiochus. Psalm 149 in particular speaks, apparendy, of a group of batding saints. Gulkovitsch's ingenious attempt to trace the develop­ ment of hasid and hasidim in the psalms from a general term for the whole community to a special cultic group within the community is not very convincing because of the difficulty, acknowledged by him, of accurately dating the various psalmsY

WHO WERE THE HASIDIM?

The hasid of the Bible is not, then, a specially consecrated individual, a man set apart from others. He is not a "type" at all, but merely an exceptionally good and pious man. It is possible, however, that in the period of the psalms, pious individuals formed themselves into groups for the defense of their faith when it was under attack. If this is correct, then these individuals-the hasidim-may have formed the group of that name in the time of the Maccabees; or, they may have been an earlier group out of which the later group grew. Of this we can be certain-that in the Maccabean revolt, a company of men joined the ranks of the rebels and were known as hasidim. The earliest definite references to a group of dedicated men calling themselves hasidim are in the books of the Maccabees, where it is stated that these men (Assidaioi in Greek) attached themselves to the Macca- JEWISH SA/NTIJNESS THROUGH THE AGES 5 bees (1 Maccabees 2:42-44; 7:8-18) and, according to another version, were the group of which Judas Maccabeus was the captain (2 Macca­ bees 14:3-6}. Scholars long ago noted that there is internal evidence (the use of Greek words, for instance) that the Book of Daniel was composed during the Greek period. It is plausible that the book was written during the Maccabean revolt to encourage the Jews to remain steadfast in their loyalty to the faith of their fathers, though Pfeiffer's categorical statement that the hook was actually composed by a hasid goes beyond the evidence. 12 The conjecture that the Book of Daniel was composed during the Maccabean periods finds some support in the account (7:19-22) of Daniel's vision of the "fourth beast'' who made war ''with the saints" (though the Aramaic word used here is leaddishin, "holy ones''). It is clear that there is uncertainty of identification between the hasidim of Psalms and the hasidim of the books of the Maccabees. Are the references in both books to the same group, or did the Maccabean group grow out of an earlier group-or is it possible that the term hasidim in Psalms is not the name of any particular group? These are questions that have no final answers. All that can be stated with certainty is that a group of men known as hasidim took part in the Maccabean revolt. Maccabees 1 and 2 do not, in fact, speak of a special group banding itself together in order to fight against Antiochus specifically; rather, they speak of a group already in existence. M. Burrows may be right in tracing an unorganized puritanical tendency beginning with the Rechabites ijeremiah 35:6-7) and appearing in the hasidim of the later psalms-the "poor'' who trust in God to deliver them. Out of this group emerged the Maccabean hasidim. 13

THEESSENES

The suggestion that the word Essenes is a Greek form of the word hasidim was made long ago, 14 but the identification is still far from certain. The Essenes lived a monastic life in which possessions were shared. They lived chiefly in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea, and there has been much conjecture about whether they are to be identified with the Oumram sect: (According to Philo, there were around 4,000 6 HOLYLNING in number). When not working, they engaged in religious study and prayer. To identify positively the Essenes with the Maccabean hasidim or to ascribe to them the Book of Jubilees, Enoch, and other books is precarious, however, due to the paucity of evidence. 15 In any event, there is no explicit reference to the Essenes in the rabbinic literature, so later accounts of Jewish saintliness owe nothing to this group in any direct manner. There are a number of references in the rabbinic literature to hasidim ha-rishonim, "the pious men of old." This group may have been the Essenes or possibly the earlier Maccabean group. Again all is conjectural, the material on. these hasidim in the rabbinic literature dating from a much later period. We should not, therefore, read the rabbinic accounts as if they were anything like contemporary records. It is said that these hasidim would empty their minds one hour before their prayers in order to direct their minds to God (Mishnah Berakhot 5:1; Berakhot 32b); they would attach fringes to the corners of their garments (Numbers 15:37-41) as soon as three handbreadths of the garment had been woven, even though the law demanded only that the fringes be attached when the finished garment was to be worn (Menahot 41a); and they would consort with their wives only on Wednesdays, in the belief that a conception on any other day might result in the child being born on the Sabbath, which would involve a degree of Sabbath desecration-permitted, of course, but avoided by the hasidim taking the most extreme precautions (Niddah 38b). The same scrupulous regard displayed by these hasidim in connec­ tion with religious duties was displayed by them, it is said, in connec­ tion with their social responsibilities. It was their practice to take · extreme measures to prevent anything that belonged to them from doing harm to others (Bava Kama 30a). For example, they were known to bury their thorns and broken glass in the middle of their fields at a depth of three handbreadths. In the very late post-talmudic tractate Semahot (3:10), it is stated in the name of R. Judah (second century) that many of these hasidim died of self-induced intestinal disorders, as a result of purging themselves so that they cotild enter paradise in purity. The picture of the hasidim ha-rishonim that emerges from the rabbinic literature is of men scrupulous in ritual and social behavior far beyond the letter of the law. JEWISH SAINTUNESS THROUGH THE AGES 7

The looser biblical term hasidim is now applied to a particular pietistic group. It is impossible to state whether there is in all this an authentic tradition reaching back to the hasidim ha-rishonim or, indeed, whether such a group of hasidim ever existed except in the minds of later teachers. Nevertheless, reference is made to the hasidim ha-rishonim in the later rabbinic sources, and this in itself contributed much to their being used as the model for many subsequent deliberations on the nature of the saintly ideal. The fact that these hasidim are referred to as ha-rishonim is evidence that by the second century, when the Mishnah was compiled, the group was no longer in existence. Yet in using the term hasidim, the later sources demonstrate that the hasid was viewed as an exceedingly pious individual, outstanding in love of God and of others, and ex­ tremely scrupulous in religious observance. The hasid has now become virtually the equivalent of the saint.

THE HASID IN THE MISHNAH

The best way to introduce the concept of the hasid as it appears in the rabbinic talmudic literature is to note the references in tractate Avot (Ethics of the Fathers). This tractate of the Mishnah affords us a properly representative model. The first reference to a hasid in this tractate is in a saying attributed to Hillel: "An ignorant man (am ha-aretz) cannot be a hasid" (2:6). In the same chapter (2:8), the names of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai's five chief disciples are given and one of these,. R. Jose the Priest, is described as a hasid. When the disciples were urged by their master to "go out and see" the good way a man should choose and the evil way he should shun, R. Jose returned with the advice that a man should choose to be a good neighbor and shun a bad neighbor (2:9). R. Jose's special series of maxims is "Let the property of thy fellow be as dear to thee as thine own; and fit thyself for the study of the Torah, for it is not thine by inheritance; and let all thy deeds be done for the sake of Heaven'' (2: 12). Here the essence of saintliness is good neighborliness in all its aspects, application to the study of the Torah, and lack of self-interest. These features pervade the history of Jewish saintliness. 8 HOLYLNING

An anonymous teaching in a later chapter of Avot describes Hasidut as intensely virtuous behavior. Of the four possible character types, the hasid is the one who says ''What is mine is thine and what is thine is thirie" (5: 10). Of the four kinds of tempers, the hasid is the most difficult to provoke and the most easily pacified (5:11). Of the four types of almsgivers, the hasid gives of himself and wishes others to give (5: 13). Of the four who frequent the House of Study, the hasid not only goes there but also practices what he has studied there (5:14). The picture that emerges from the foregoing is of the hasid as a man who is not content with the normal standards of observance, and who resolves to go far beyond the letter of the law. This idea is found in other rabbinic sources as well. Thus the ruling is given that if a money-changer had given deficient coins, the victim can receive com­ pensation only if he returns to make his claim during the limited period in which he is able to discover that he had been cheated; it is assumed that if he does not make the claim within this ·short period, he has waived his rights. But a ruling of the Mishnah is quoted in which it appears that the victim can make his claim any time during a whole year. To resolve the contradiction, R. Hisda (d. 309) suggests that the much longer period stated in the Mishnah is a rule for saints (mishnat hasidim) (Bava Metzia 52b). Similarly, if a wealthy traveler finds himself without money in a strange town, he may not only take from the poor relief funds of that town, but he is not obliged to pay back what he has taken, since "at that time he was a poor man:" In another ruling, however, it is stated that he does have to return the money. Again R. Hisda resolves the contradiction: The ruling that he must make resti­ tution is a rule for saints (Hullin 130b). Both these instances, it is worth noting, are said to be recorded in a Mishnah-that is, in an official code. Whether R. Hisda's interpretations are correct is beside the point, as is the attribution to R. Hisda. In the latter case we may have an example of the well-known device used by the editors of the Talmud of attributing to a teacher subject matter with some resemblance to his name (a pun on Hisda and hasidim). 16 It remains true that, at least in the opinion of the editors of the Talmud, there are statements in the official code that are not directed to everyone, but rather are intended only for those who wish to pursue saindy conduct. In other words, the "saindy JEWISH SAINJUNESS THROUGH THE AGES 9

rule" is precisely that-not a matter of individual preference, but in the nature of an actual code to which the hasidim are obliged to conform. In this connection the·following anecdote, told in the Jerusalem Talmud (Terumot 8:6, 46b), is instructive. The Mishnah rules that if a company of Jews are ordered by heathens to give up one of their · number to be killed under penalty of having the entire group killed, they may not deliver the man unless the heathens have specified that he is the particular man whom they want to kill. R. Joshua b. Levi followed the Mishnah and saved the lives of the inhabitants of his town by handing over to be killed a man specified by name, where­ upon Elijah, who used to visit R. Joshua, ceased to do so. When Elijah eventually resumed his visits to R. Joshua b. Levi, the latter excused his conduct by referring to the clear ruling of the Mishnah, to which Elijah replied, "Yes, but is it a mishnat hasidim?"

HASID .OR TZADDIK

The difference, then, between the formally righteous man-the tzaddik-and the hasid is that the tzaddik observes the law, whereas the hasid goes beyond the letter of the law. R. ~una (third century) contrasted the two parts of the verse (Psalm 145:17) "The Lord is righteous (tzaddik) in all His ways" and "and gracious (hasid) in all His works." At first God treats sinners according to their just deserts, but in the end He is gracious to pardon; that is, He goes beyond the letter of the law (Rosh ha-Shanah 17b). There was a widespread belief in rabbinic times that the parings of fingernails could cause harm to a pregnant woman who stepped over them. Consequendy, it is said (Moed Katan 18b) that one who throws the nail parings away is wicked, .and one who buries them is a tzaddik, but the hasid burns them so as to eliminate any possibility of their causing harm. The hasid never retaliates when others insult him. The Midrash (Midrash Psalms to Psalm 86:2) states that when a man hears others insult him and remains silent, that man is called a hasid. It must be recognized that the term hasid is sometimes used very loosely in the rabbinic literature to denote simply a good and pious 10 HOLYUVING

man, a reversal to the original, biblical usage. It is in this sense that the term is used when it is said that the majority of sailors are hasidim (Mishnah Kiddushin 4:14); this obviously means not that the majority of sailors are "saints," but rather that, because of the hazardous nature of their occupation, they are pious. But apart from a few instances, the word does convey the concept of that extraordinary virtue that is the hallmark of the saint. In the examples given earlier, the emphasis is on · saintliness as expressed particularly in prayer, in striving for self­ perfection, and in care for the property of others. The Talmud (Bava Kama 30a) quotes the third-century Babylonian teacher R. Judah as saying that one who aspires to becoming a hasid must fulfill the laws found in the Nezilein section of the Mishnah, which deals with damages and which describes how to avoid causing harm to others. The fourth-century teacher Rava is quoted as advising the would-be hasid to fulfill the precepts contained in the ethical treatise of the Mishnah, · Avot. A third opinion is then quoted that he must fulfill the matters dealt with in tractate Beralehot of the Mishnah, that is, with matters of prayer and benedictions.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HASIDISM

The stages in the development of the term hasid have been noted from biblical times down through the rabbinic period. In the Bible the hasid is simply the good person who leads the good life in the sight of God and fellow humans, though with an intensity of virtue that singles him out from the ordinary run of even the virtuous. During the Maccabean period we find the name given to the members of a pietistic group. This may be the group referred to in the talmudic lit~rature as the hasidim · ha-rishonim, but the group was no longer in existence in the T annaitic . period (the first two centuries c.E.). During this and the later rabbinic period, the hasid was the man of special sanctity, altruism, and holi­ ness; he was law-abiding, but noted for his desire to go beyond the letter of the law. With the addition of mystical and ascetic elements, the hasid in subsequent Jewish life and thought belongs to this late rabbinic type. During the Middle Ages the talmudic literature had. acquired JEWISH SA/NfLINESS THROUGH THE AGES 11 virtually canonical status and had become, for the followers of rabbinic Judaism, the most influential work; Jewish teachers and thinkers of every variety based their ideas on the Talmud, interpreting the tal­ mudic passages to fit their predilections. For devotees of the saintly life, whether individual pietists or organized groups, the rabbinic teachings on Hasidut (this abstract term was generally used for the phenomenon in the Middle Ages) formed the basis of their theological stance, even when, in obedience to their own viewpoint, they read ideas into the Talmud far removed from its original intention. Because of their particular stance, a number of medieval masters were seen by their contemporaries and by subsequent generations as a part of the saintly tradition. Two teachers, in particular, were called he-hasid, "the saint'': Bahya lbn Pakudah (second half of the eleventh century)17 and Jonah Gerondi (d. 1263).18 Bahya's Arabic treatise, translated into Hebrew with the title Hovot ha-Levavot (Duties of the Heart), and Jonah Ge­ rondi's Shaarey Teshuvah (Gates of Repentance) became classic moral­ istic works for the ordinary Jew, but were seen by those with ambi­ tions of Hasidut as addressed especially to them. The medieval heirs, as a group, to talmudic Hasidut were the Hasidey Ashleenaz, "the German saints," who flourished in Regensburg and in the towns of Sgeyer, Worms, and Mainz during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.1 The leaders of this group were Samuel he-Hasid (in the second half of the twelfth century), his son, Judah he-Hasid (d. 1217), and thelatter'spupilEleazarb.JudahofWorms (d. c.1230). The two most important and influential works produced in this circle are the Sefer Hasidim, attributed to Judah he-Hasid, and the Rokeah, by Eleazar of Worms.2° Judah he-Hasid's commentary to the Torah was recently published from manuscript by I. S. Lange. 21 In this commen­ tary, the basic ideas of the Hasidey Ashleenaz are read into the scriptural verses. Before we examine some of the ideas of the Hasidey Ashleenaz on the saintly ideal, it should be acknowledged that these saints were not organized in a fraternity, but rather were a circle of individuals residing in various towns in Germany in fairly loose association with one another.22 The Hasidey Ashleenaz flourished during the period of the Cru­ sades, a time when many Jews gave up their lives for their religion. The 12 HOLYUVING martyrs were not necessarily scholars but ordinary pious folk for whom Kkldush ha-Shem, "Sanctification of the Name," as martyrdom is called, was far more than a theoretical demand; it was an ever-present reality.23 This goes a long way toward explaining both the popular aspects of the Sefer Hasidim, including the superstitious, 24 and their emphasis on martyrdom. Zinberg righdy observes:25

In that dark era of blood and terror, when even an ordinary Jew was prepared to be a usaint" and had to be prepared at every moment to sacrifice himself for his faith, the Sefer Hasidim, which was produced not by an individual but, in a sense, by the community, endeavored to arouse in the hearts of the people the fervor and mystical ecstasy of self-sacrifice and martyrdom.

At the same time, it is obvious that many of the prescriptions in the Sefer Hasidim and especially in the Rokeah are addressed to the saint in the usual connotation of the term-an individual of extraordinary sanctity and goodness. 26 As in the Talmud~ the social aspects of Hasidut are stressed among the Hasidey Ashkenaz. 2 In their efforts to help the poor, the saints sometimes came into conflict with the community leaders. The Sefe"r Hasidim contains a particular section, reading between the lines of which it cail be seen that the saints occasionally conflicted with the community's leaders, who were content to obey the requirements of the strict law without any attempt to go beyond it. 28 The leaders could not agree to demands that would prove to be a constant drain on the charity chest. The following passages are revealing:

If a man needs to be supported by others, if he is able to obtain support from the communities in each city he should not be advised to approach individuals since that which is given to him out of the community funds does not cause his heart pain, whereas if an individual gives to him he may suffer distress even when a small amount is taken from him and it is as if his blood is being taken from him. When Rava (Bava Batra 8b) compelled a man to give charity that man was wealthy, but it is not proper for a man himself to do this [i.e., to importune individuals]. Once people have decided to give to him, he should not bother them further, but beforehand he may tell them how poor he is. [No. 868] JEWISH SAINTliNESS THROUGH THE AGES 13

The community leaders noticed that a good Jew in the town offered hospitality to visitors. He was once a rich man who made guests so welcome that they would always visit him. After a time the man lost his wealth but the guests continued to come to him. The members of the town council were then obliged to say to the man: "We know that you are unable to spend so much on your guests, but since they still come to you please accept this charity money so that you can continue to supply your guests with food and drink." It is in order for the man to inform his guests that the money with which he supplies their needs is charity money so that they should not think they owe him a personal debt of gratitude. If, however, the guests do think that the money is his own, and if they· knew it was charity money they would be ashamed to accept it, then it is better not to tell them the truth. Even though they will think it is his own money· that he is spending on them, this is not to be compared to misrepresentation since he has not misled them; they have misled themselves. Furthermore, even if the host, a God-fearing man who has lost his money, is ashamed to admit to his guests that he is using charity money, it is no worse than the man who says to the charity overseers: "Give me charity for myself" and then gives the money he receives to the poor. Concerning such a case it is said: "Happy is he that considereth the poor" (Psalm 41 :2). [No. 870] What the community leaders had to say we are not told but can easily guess. Far from almsgiving's being considered in any way a hindrance to the pursuit of the saindy ideal, it was of its essence. ''Whoever is charitable will have the merit of seeing the face of the Shelehinah'' [No. 880]. "It is better to be friendly with an ignorant man who is generous. and whose reputation in business is good, than to be friendly with a scholar who is greedy and a miser" [No. 882]. The hasid must respect the feelings of others at all times. ''If a man wishes to give gifts worth different amounts to three people, he should not give them when all three are present because those who receive the smaller gifts will resent it. He should give the gifts in private to each person and should beg each not to tell the others" [No. 897]. ''If a man has lent someone money, he should try to avoid meeting his debtor for even if he does not say anything about the debt the debtor may be embarrassed, thinking to himself, the reason he does not mention the debt is because he suspects that I am reluctant to repay it'' [No. 901]. 14 HOLYLNING

The picture that emerges from the writings of the Hasidey As~­ leenaz is of the saints scattered throughout the various communities and pursuing the ways of benevolence, not as members of a fraternity, but as individuals willing to help others by their sense of special vocation. Among the saindy values stressed by the Hasidey Ashleenaz is that of repentance. 29 This idea, that repentance is not only for a man guilty of serious sin but is also an essential ingredient in the saindy life, involves a reversal of the older rabbinic views on Hasidut. For example, the Talmud (Sukkah 53a) states that of the people assembled in the Temple courtyard for the water-drawing ceremony, the hasidim among them used to say, "Happy our youth that has not disgraced our old age," while the penitents would say, "Happy our old age which has atoned for our youth," seeming to suggest that the tide hasid was given only to one whose life had been untainted by sin since youth, not to the penitent. In the talmudic, discussion on which is the greater, the perfecdy righteous or the penitent (&rakhot 34b), the term used for the righteous is tzaddik, not hasid. The Zohar (1, 39a) similarly states that · while the penitent has a higher place in the celestial halls than the righteous, the highest place of all is occupied by the hasid. Among the Hasidey Ashleenaz, on the other hand, repentance for sins ("minor" sins are treated by the saint as if they were "major") is essential to saintli­ ness. These German saints would engage in severe mortification of the . flesh as a penance for their sins, rolling naked in the snow, for instance, or smearing themselves with honey to be stung by bees. Baer30 and others have detected here the influence of the Christian monasticism of the period. Eleazar of Worm's Rokeah has no fewer than twenty-eight sec­ tions on repentance (pp. 28-36). Here Eleazar records his famous four types of repentance, influential in the history of Jewish piety: 1. Ha-baah, "coming"-The sinner finds the same opportunity to sin as before, but this time refrains from sinning. 2. Ha-gader, "the fence"-The sinner denies himself even legiti­ mate things if they are in some way connected with his sin. 3. Ha~mishka" "the balance"-The sinner balances the pleasure he obtained through the commission of the sin with the pain he voluntarily inflicts upon himself. JEWISH SAINTLINESS THROUGH THE AGES 15

4. Ha-katuv, "Scripture"-The sinner torments himself with tortures that have some affinity with the punishment stated in Scripture for that particular sin.

Although the Roleeah is essentially a code of law, it opens (Pf· 1-19) with a section called Hilkhot Hasidut, "Laws [sic] of saintliness." 1 Here are stated twelve "roots" of saintliness, twelve principles upon which saindy conduct is based: (1) the love of God, (2) the fear of God, (3) humility, (4) having God always in the mind, (5) the beginning of Hasidut as going beyond the letter of the law, refusing to lie or to take revenge, (6) delight in the study of the word of God, (7) acceptance of the words of the sages, (8) purity and abstinence, (9) cleansing from every trait of sin, (1 0) having a good character, (11) self-improvement, (12) holiness. Each of these twelve principles is discussed in detail. For instance, in his discussion of the fifth principle, "the beginning of Hasidut/' Eleazar observes that, at first, when a man is moved to follow the path of Hasidut, it is as hard as death itself, since people laugh at him and put him to shame so that, metaphorically, his blood is shed; and yet, since he is a hasi~ he bears it all in love. Once he has sincerely begun to follow the saindy way, he will never relinquish it, even when he is embarrassed by their taunts or when they offer him large sums of money if only he will be like others. The hasid will take the utmost care not to cause any injury to others. He will refuse to associate with scoffers or with those who waste their time in idle talk, but will associate only with those who do good deeds (pp. 10-11). On the eighth principle, "acceptance of the words of the sages," Eleazar remarks that the hasid will drink thirstily at the fountain of wisdom provided by the sages (pp·. 13-14). He will listen to the words of the very least of the sages with as much care as to the words of the greatest of them, so that he learns from all. He will allow himself to be rebuked by the sages without complaining. In much of this the Roleeah quotes in his support scriptural and rabbinic passages, but what he actually does is create a regimen for the hasidby presenting stray and random sayings in a systematic way. Another saindy fraternity flourished among the kabbalistic mys­ tics in sixteenth-century Safed. The two most prominent members of 16 HOLYUVING this circle were Moses Cordovero (1522-1570) and Isaac Luria (1534-1572), the latter always referred to not as he-hasid, but as Ari ha-Kadosh, "The holy lion." The tide kadosh is reserved for the martyrs and for the very greatest of the saints. Schechter and Fine have studied in detail the ideas and ideals of the Safed circle and the saindy rules drawn up for the guidance of its members. 32 At a later date, a similar fraternity was established in Jerusalem by the Moroccan kabbalist Hayyim lbn Attar (1686-1743). At the colle~ of lbn Attar, the students would pray on behalf of Diaspora Jewry. Ibn Attar's significance is the result, in addition to the example pro­ vided by his saindy life, of the commentary he wrote to the Penta­ teuch, Or ha-Hayyim. This commentary became a key work for aspir­ ants to Hasidut. In the later hasidic movement, for example, the work was considered essential reading for the devout hasid. Reports of lbn Attar's life describe him as sitting all day in his yeshivah wearing tallit and tefillin and living a holy, ascetic life, free of worldly concerns. R. Hayyim Joseph David Azulai, the Hit/a, says of him:34

I had the merit of belonging to his Yeshivah and saw with mine own eyes how great was his learning. In his dialectics he uprooted huge mountains. His holiness was wondrous in the extreme. In our genera­ tion the heart of the Rabbi was like an unfailing fountain. His wisdom can be seen from the books he wrote but that was only a tenth part of his wisdom. The breadth and sharpness of his mind was a marvd of marvels. All day there rested upon him an aura of sanctity and asceti­ cism and tiemendous were his powers. 85

It hardly needs to be said that there is nothing in Judaism to correspond to the process of beatification and canonization in the Catholic church. No process of this kind ever existed in Jewish history. It is rather the case that, by a kind of popular consensus, a few individuals were acknowledged, because of the quality of their lives and, especially of their works, to possess that extraordinary degree of sanctity 'thought to entide them to be called hasid. This is what happened to Bahya lbn Pakudah and Jonah Gerondi. In the eighteenth century, the renowned Italian kabbalist Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto (1707-1746), for all his youth and despite strong opposition to his JEWISH SA/Nfl1NFSS THROUGH THE AGES 17

views by some prominent rabbinic figures in his native Italy, came eventually to be accepted as 'he-hasid Luzzatto'. His book Mesillat Yesharim (Path of the Upright) became a significant manual of instruc­ tion for those eager to follow the saindy path. The Mesillat Yesharim is based on the Baraita attributed in the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 20b) to the second-century teacher R. Phinehas . b. Yair, wherein are described the stages on the road to self-perfection. The Baraita reads:

Knowledge of the Torah leads to watchfulness, watchfulness to zeal, zeal to cleanness, cleanness to abstinence, abstinence to purity, purity to saintliness (Hasidut), saintliness to humility, humility to the fear of sin, and the fear of sin to holiness.

In his introduction, Luzzatto bemoans the fact that the striving for Hasidut is cultivated neither by the learned, who believe that this pursuit affords litde intellectual challenge, nor by the ignorant, who imagine saindiness to consist in reciting numerous psalms and long confessions, in fasting, and in ablutions in ice and snow. Believing that saindiness is an art to be cultivated, Luzzatto proceeds to depict the ascent of the ladder as described by R. Phinehas b. Yair.

In planning this book, which is intended as a reminder both to myself and others of the prerequisites to perfect piety, I have followed the order laid down in that Baraita. I shall point out the different phases and details that belong to each of these requisites, the way to fulfill each of them, the hindrances that beset them, and how to be on one's guard against these hindrances. I, or anyone else who may be interested in this book, will read it with the view of learning to fear the Lord our God, and not to be remiss in our duty to Him.

Luzzatto's other-worldly stance is evident throughout the book. In the first chapter, he writes:

It is fundamentally necessary both for saintliness (Hasidut) and for the perfect worship of God to realize clearly what constitutes man's duty in the world, and what goal is worthy of his endeavors throughout all the days of his life. Our Sages have taught us that man was created only to 18 HOLYUVING

find delight in the Lord, and to bask in the radiance of His Presence. But the real place for such delight is the world to come, which has been created for that very purpose. The present world is only a path to that goal.

It is obvious that Luzzatto aims very high in the book. In his concluding chapter on holiness (leedushah), Luzzatto states that one who follows the stages of this guide will merit the cleaving of his soul , to the holiness of God, and it will rise to ever-greater heights until it is endowed with the holy spirit, its power exceeding human limitations. 36

He, therefore, who cleaves to God in complete self-surrender is able to derive from Him even the power over life itself, the power which, more than any other, is the attribute of God. Thus the Baraita which we quoted at the beginning of the book concludes with the words: ''Holi­ ness leads to the gift of the holy spirit, and the gift of the holy spirit leads to the power of quickening the dead."

Actually, the reference in the Baraita to "quickening the dead" is to the Resurrection, at the end of time, but Luzzatto applies it here to the ability of the holy man to revive the dead in this life. Luzzatto's Mesillat yesharim influenced both the hasidic move­ ment of the eighteenth century and the school of the anti-hasidic Elijah, Gaon of Vilna (1720-1790), "the last §§eat theologian of classical rabbinism," as he is called by Ginzberg. The Gaon is said to have declared that, had Luzzatto still been alive, the Gaon would have journeyed over land and sea to sit at his feet in order to learn how to be God-fearing. Although the Gaon's fame rests chiefly on his mastery of every branch of Jewish learning and his many works on Talmud, Codes, Kabbalah~ and biblical exegesis, he, too, was called ha-Gaon he-hasid mi-Vilna. 8 Learning, or profound study, especially of the Talmud and the Codes, was essential for the Hasidut of the Gaon and his disciples. Saints in this school, regardless of the other virtues they possessed, had to express their religious yearnings in the hard discipline of Torah study by day and by night. This was the type of piety encouraged in the famed Yeshivah of Volozhyn, founded by R. JEWISH SAINJLINESS THROUGH THE AGES 19

. Hayyim of Volozhyn, chief disciple of the Gaon. R. Israel Lipkin of Salant (1810-1883), also known as he-hasid, founded the Musar movement. 39 This elitist movement, after a struggle, managed to win over to its side the majority of the Lithuanian yeshivot, all of which followed in the footsteps of the Gaon of Vilna and his disciples. The Musar teachers, who sought to develop techniques for self­ improvement, devised the particular Lithuanian-Vilna Gaon type of ·Hasidut, which involved the exercise of the mind in total dedication to the study of the Torah together with the cultivation of wholesome character traits. The emphasis was on introspection and severe self­ scrutiny, all accompanied by melancholy tunes. The opponents of the movement called attention to, among other aspects, its extremely somber mood, which, they hdd, was at variance with the joy that was such a prominent feature in all the traditional descriptions of the saindy life.

THE BAAL SHEM TOV

I Separated from the Hasidey Ashleenaz by several centuries, there arose in eighteenth-century Poland arid the Ukraine the new hasidic move­ ment, the founder of which is generally held to have been Israel b. Eliezer (1698-1760), the Baal Shem Tov, "Master of the Good Name'' (that is, of God, one who uses divine names for the purpose of healing; generally abbreviated Besht). There is little to connect direcdy Beshtian Hasidism with the Hasidey Ashleenaz, 40 but there are affinities, nonethe­ less, between the two groups. In reality, as scholarly research has shown, there were a number of groups at the time in that part of the Jewish world calling themselves hasidim, each having a charismatic leader. But these groups either vanished entirely from the scene or became assimilated into the group led by the Besht. The two chief disciples of the Besht were Jacob Joseph of Pulonnoye (d. 1782), the first author in the new hasidic vein, and Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mesirech (d. 1772), the real organizer of the movement. Eventually, the disciples of the Maggid became hasidic masters in their own right; some of them became founders of hasidic "dynasties," in which the sons and grand­ sons continued the tradition of the· particular master. As a result, the 20 ~OLYUVJNG term hasid could no longer be used to denote the saindy leader of the group. The hasid was now a "follower'' of the master, and a new term, the zaddile (the usual spelling in English of tzaddile), was adopted for the master, producing, in fact, a reversal of the two roles. As we have seen, in the earlier sources the tzaddile was generally simply a good and righteous man, while the hasid was the superior "saint." Now the hasid is a follower of the saindy zaddile. Another name for the zaddik, used early on in the movement, was rebbe, to distinguish this new type of leader from the rav, the traditional rabbi, the expert in Jewish law. A vast body of literature was produced by the hasidic movement, much of it containing guidance for saindy living, but it is often far from clear whether these teachings were intended only for the zaddile or for the general run of the hasidim. Certainly, it is frequendy implied that only the zaddile is capable of reaching the higher stages of the saindy life. It might be noted that a similar development took place among the followers of the Lithuanian Musar movement, with the gurulike Musar personality becoming the leader of the group. In the later Musar literature this leader, too, is often referred to as ha-Rav ha-Tzaddile, obviously under the influence of the hasidic movement, even though the Musarists belonged within the ranks of the opponents of Hasidism from the school of the Gaon of Vilna, the mitnaggedim. R. Israel Salanter is reported to have said that both the hasidim and the mitnaggedim are in error-the former because they think they have a rebbe, and the latter because they think they do not need one.

THEHUNGAruANSCHOOL

In the Hungarian school of R. Moshe Sofer (1762-1839), a form of Hasidut developed, different in many respects from both that of the Lithuanian-mitnaggedic and the Beshtian hasidic types. R. Moshe Sofer (the Hatam Sofer), Rabbi of Pressburg, a fierce opponent of the new Reform movement, was an outstanding halakhic authority and a gifted polemicist and communalleader.41 Yet from the many glimpses we obtain of his personal life, it is clear that he can be firmly placed in the Hasidut tradition. His contemporary, R. Mordecai Baneth of Ni­ kolsburg, once described him as "a living Hovot ha-Levavot'' (the tide of JEWISH SAINTliNESS IHROUGH IHE AGES 21

Bahya's famous book).42 His particular brand of Hungarian Hasidut was manifest in his descendants, successive rabbis of the Pressburg community, and in his numerous disciples of the Hungarian school. R. Moshe Sofer's teacher during his youth in Frankfurt-am-Main was R. Nathan Adler ha-Kohen (1741-1800), known significantly as "the hasid among the priests" (he-hasid she-bi-leehunah). Adler and .his disciples blended the traditional scholarly values with the characteris­ tics of the saint.43 Adler, influenced by R. Hayyim Modai of Jerusalem, who had been his houseguest for several years, established a private minyan in his home, in which he used the kabbalistic prayerbook of lsaac Luria. His departure from tradition in this and in other respects brought about conflict between Adler and the official Frankfurt com­ munity leaders. A ban was placed on Adler as a result of the conflict, so he left Frankfurt for a time. He later returned, however, to found a yeshivah, the students of which were called hasidim. It is of interest that the communal rabbi of Frankfurt at the time was Phinehas Horowitz, who, in his youth, had come under the influence of the Maggid of Mesirech, the hasidic leader. As rabbi of the strongly antihasidic. community of Frankfurt, however, Horowitz was bound to distance himself from any innovations of the kind introduced by Adler. A no doubt ~hly biased polemic against Adler's hasidim describes their "offenses.'144 They are excessively strict in their observance of the dietary laws; they wear two pairs of tefillin; their womenfolk wear tzitzit; they are so meticulous in observing the rite of circumcision that their infants often fall into a faint because the procedure is so lengthy. They had dreams in which they foretold the future, thereby terrifying the commonfolk with their threats of disas­ ter. Dubnow is undoubtedly correct in seeing Adler's Hasidut as more akin to that of the Safed Kabbalists than to that of Beshtian Hasidism. 45 Rabbi Moshe Sofer revered his master, even though he, like Rabbi Horowit:Z, had become a communal rabbi in the traditional mold and never followed Adler's type of Hasidut. His grandson relates that at a gathering of scholars, one of them referred to Adler as "an angel of the Lord of hosts," whereupon Rabbi Moshe Sofer, who was present, exclaimed, "And what an ange11"46 As has been stated, So fer and those of his school held themselves somewhat aloof from Beshtian HOLY LIVING

Hasidism. 47 Nevertheless, he had great respect for the famous hasidic masters, and they, in .turn, had great admiration for his immense learning and defense of Orthodoxy.

THE SEPHARDI WORLD The veneration of saints in the Sephardi-Oriental world had its own development, influenced it would seem by the Islamic pattern. The Sephardi-Oriental Jewish saint is not usually referred to as a has~ but as ha-rav ha-leadosh, "the holy rabbi." This type of saint is rarely the leader of a group, as is the case in Hasidism, but rather is a holy individual to whom people of diverse backgrounds turn for his bless­ ings and prayers on their behalf. Miracle tales of the holy men are a popular feature of Sephardi-Oriental Jewries. In recent years these tales have been widely disseminated. Examples are the biographies of the Yemenites R. Mordecai Sharabi (1912-1984) and Ha~ Savaani (1898-1979),48 the Moroccan saint Israel Abuchatzeirah,49 and the Jerusalem saint Yosef Sholomo Dayyan.50 It is clear from this introductory survey that while the phenom­ enon of saintliness (Hasidut) can be detected throughout Jewish history, it assumed a variety of forms, depending upon the particular circum­ stances of the time and place in which the saints lived.